Wednesday, 16 July 2008

Japanese Packaging – So Seductive, So Sinful

Last summer I developed something of a crush on the squeezed lemon drink “Lemogre”. Put aside that the name inspires visions of citrus-trolls crushing other fruits underfoot and despoiling orchards, it was a delicious crushed lemon drink with lots of pulp too. I liked it so much I hollowed out its carcass and it’s my pencil pot now.

This year, Lemogre’s back and it’s having its ass handed to it by a far weedier Acerola & Lemon beverage.

That’s some lovely design right there, shame the drink tastes how I imagine a saline drip does.

This year’s Lemogre package is somewhat more shoddily illustrated, with a “hot manga chick”. She does however seem to be screaming insanely in one speech bubble.

“ Yheeeei!!” Is the sound I imagine a hell-harpy makes as it’s trying to claw your eyes out. Elsewhere on the packaging we learn that “Lemogre is Squeeeezed!!”

The point here being that Japanese consumables come in some wonderfully realised packaging, both in graphic design and ease of use. The downside of this being that there’s always far too much packaging, and the wastage is horrifying. A bag of cookies where the cookies are protected by a plastic tray, and further INDIVIDUALLY wrapped in more plastic? A coffee, stabilised by a card frame inside a paper bag inside a plastic bag? Are you going to toilet paper Mother Natures tree too, or are you done now?